I am far from "resource rich", as most people know. I took the "regular end time" screenshot, just like people wanted. Then, I played my normal "last day" routine. When I got up Tuesday morning, I started Skirmishing. I went until I was out of Intel, then I used the Chronitons that had dropped during the Skirmishes ti earn more Intel, while leveling Crew. Same thing I do on a Monday with an unextended Skirnish Event.
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
I benefited from the extension as I had a ton of intel to burn. However, I know that a lot of folks were hamstrung due to real life commitments and a lack of resources. I finished in the top 150 (I am not certain if I would have absent the extension). It’s the first time I felt bad for ranking high in an event. I hope I never feel that way again.
I used a supply kit with the 1250 apology chronitons during the extension and finished above (498th) where I probably would have anyway (535th). That being said, I understood the frustration of those players who had planned their strategies based on the regular event conclusion.
I have never been a fan of the four-day event schedule anyway, and I wish that the studio was open to trying three days again as an experiment. I suppose they do not have quantifiable metrics for players' enjoyment, though, as they do for engagement. 🖖
EDIT: It took me less than 30 minutes to use those chrons for (galaxy) farming, then to use up the extra Intel.
"In the short run, the game defines the players. But in the long run, it's us players who define the game." — Nicky Case, The Evolution of Trust
I had an interesting experience with this event and the extension. I have been stockpiling dilithium for a while to go hard at recap packs to fuel my IKS Bortas so my plan for all 4 events of the mega was to just clear thresholds for the Honor and then count on the recap packs to get me the cards I missed.
So by the time the event glitch happened I was sitting around 4,100th place and had barely cleared thresholds. Then the glitch happened and I was working with people in my fleet to help them coordinate around the outage to make sure they could hit their goals. All told, I think I spent several hours that night helping folks.
Then I made the mistake of coming here. There were a handful of players throwing tantrums, hijacking threads, being a nuisance, aggressively coming after other players for not agreeing with their perspective, and just generally speaking with an arrogant, entitled tone and I will confess, it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. And it woke up the skirmish monster I had worked hard to suppress for 3 days.
I spent about 6 hours during that extended 24 hour period and charged down the top 750. I finished with 2.1 million VP, which was good for 510th place. Not sure whose place I took but I REALLY hope it was one of the complainers, and in closing I will just add that I managed that on only 6 hours of work, so a lot of the people upset that their weekend of hard work was being undone did not work NEARLY as hard as they claimed.
I also know for a fact that I was not alone, I am just the second person (so far) who is publicly saying it (respect to @AviTrek ).
I think frustration is warranted when a set of expectations that has been established on a weekly basis for more than five years is suddenly upended as a seemingly knee-jerk reaction to an outage of only a few hours.
I wound up finishing in the tier I targeted, but it took significantly more resources and time, and required me to play a stupid mobile game while I was supposed to be working. I had a window of time over the weekend when I had planned to get the bulk of my skirmishing done, when I'd have some time to myself. It just so happened that the outage fell during my personal window of time, which really threw a wrench in my plans.
The lack of communication and the uncertainty surrounding the changes that were going to be implemented to the reward structure made the problem that much worse, since I didn't know how much more I should or shouldn't play since I had a specific rank and set of rewards that I was purposefully targeting. As such, I didn't play on the Sunday night like I could have.
I believe extending the event by 24-hours was a terrible decision that could potentially set an even worse precedent. Expanding/extending the tiers was the best solution, but the announcement with the details of that plan should have been shared with players much more quickly. Knowing that a significant outage could potentially impact players' ability to play within the event timeline, they should have errored on the side of being extra generous with the tier expansion (I had suggested shifting ranks by a minimum or 2 tiers, as opposed to just 1 like they wound up doing).
I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
I had an interesting experience with this event and the extension. I have been stockpiling dilithium for a while to go hard at recap packs to fuel my IKS Bortas so my plan for all 4 events of the mega was to just clear thresholds for the Honor and then count on the recap packs to get me the cards I missed.
So by the time the event glitch happened I was sitting around 4,100th place and had barely cleared thresholds. Then the glitch happened and I was working with people in my fleet to help them coordinate around the outage to make sure they could hit their goals. All told, I think I spent several hours that night helping folks.
Then I made the mistake of coming here. There were a handful of players throwing tantrums, hijacking threads, being a nuisance, aggressively coming after other players for not agreeing with their perspective, and just generally speaking with an arrogant, entitled tone and I will confess, it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. And it woke up the skirmish monster I had worked hard to suppress for 3 days.
I spent about 6 hours during that extended 24 hour period and charged down the top 750. I finished with 2.1 million VP, which was good for 510th place. Not sure whose place I took but I REALLY hope it was one of the complainers, and in closing I will just add that I managed that on only 6 hours of work, so a lot of the people upset that their weekend of hard work was being undone did not work NEARLY as hard as they claimed.
I also know for a fact that I was not alone, I am just the second person (so far) who is publicly saying it (respect to @AviTrek ).
I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
I think this is the stale mate that i see from forum users. The people who had the in game resources and real life time available really benefitted from the extra 24hours. And the folks who didnt, suffered.
Thats whats so jaw dropping about it when theres a few people in here talking about how they used the extra 24 hours to improve their rank, which is exactly the source of frustration for people who dont have resources. Some of us are saying its not fair that there was an extra 24 hours added because it moved the goal posts, and the others are saying its great they moved the goal posts because my disposable eesources put me in a good spot. Its beyond frustrating and there is just no point in arguing with these people.
I had an interesting experience with this event and the extension. I have been stockpiling dilithium for a while to go hard at recap packs to fuel my IKS Bortas so my plan for all 4 events of the mega was to just clear thresholds for the Honor and then count on the recap packs to get me the cards I missed.
So by the time the event glitch happened I was sitting around 4,100th place and had barely cleared thresholds. Then the glitch happened and I was working with people in my fleet to help them coordinate around the outage to make sure they could hit their goals. All told, I think I spent several hours that night helping folks.
Then I made the mistake of coming here. There were a handful of players throwing tantrums, hijacking threads, being a nuisance, aggressively coming after other players for not agreeing with their perspective, and just generally speaking with an arrogant, entitled tone and I will confess, it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. And it woke up the skirmish monster I had worked hard to suppress for 3 days.
I spent about 6 hours during that extended 24 hour period and charged down the top 750. I finished with 2.1 million VP, which was good for 510th place. Not sure whose place I took but I REALLY hope it was one of the complainers, and in closing I will just add that I managed that on only 6 hours of work, so a lot of the people upset that their weekend of hard work was being undone did not work NEARLY as hard as they claimed.
I also know for a fact that I was not alone, I am just the second person (so far) who is publicly saying it (respect to @AviTrek ).
I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
I think this is the stale mate that i see from forum users. The people who had the in game resources and real life time available really benefitted from the extra 24hours. And the folks who didnt, suffered.
Thats whats so jaw dropping about it when theres a few people in here talking about how they used the extra 24 hours to improve their rank, which is exactly the source of frustration for people who dont have resources. Some of us are saying its not fair that there was an extra 24 hours added because it moved the goal posts, and the others are saying its great they moved the goal posts because my disposable eesources put me in a good spot. Its beyond frustrating and there is just no point in arguing with these people.
I'm not arguing with anyone. So, am I one of "these people"? {What a loaded semantic phrase that looks so benign, but has connotations that are anything but.}
I did Tuesday what I usually do Monday in a Skirmish. The only change for me was the day I did it. Would I have "risen" the exact same amount if I did it Monday instead? No idea. Because the drops would have been different. Because the RNG would have been RNGing at a different time. And it is quasi-randomized. I might have finished a little lower or a little higher. No way to say.
The simple fact is everyone's experience is going to be different at different times and on different accounts. Just because the RNG is quasi-random.
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
I had an interesting experience with this event and the extension. I have been stockpiling dilithium for a while to go hard at recap packs to fuel my IKS Bortas so my plan for all 4 events of the mega was to just clear thresholds for the Honor and then count on the recap packs to get me the cards I missed.
So by the time the event glitch happened I was sitting around 4,100th place and had barely cleared thresholds. Then the glitch happened and I was working with people in my fleet to help them coordinate around the outage to make sure they could hit their goals. All told, I think I spent several hours that night helping folks.
Then I made the mistake of coming here. There were a handful of players throwing tantrums, hijacking threads, being a nuisance, aggressively coming after other players for not agreeing with their perspective, and just generally speaking with an arrogant, entitled tone and I will confess, it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. And it woke up the skirmish monster I had worked hard to suppress for 3 days.
I spent about 6 hours during that extended 24 hour period and charged down the top 750. I finished with 2.1 million VP, which was good for 510th place. Not sure whose place I took but I REALLY hope it was one of the complainers, and in closing I will just add that I managed that on only 6 hours of work, so a lot of the people upset that their weekend of hard work was being undone did not work NEARLY as hard as they claimed.
I also know for a fact that I was not alone, I am just the second person (so far) who is publicly saying it (respect to @AviTrek ).
I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
I think this is the stale mate that i see from forum users. The people who had the in game resources and real life time available really benefitted from the extra 24hours. And the folks who didnt, suffered.
Thats whats so jaw dropping about it when theres a few people in here talking about how they used the extra 24 hours to improve their rank, which is exactly the source of frustration for people who dont have resources. Some of us are saying its not fair that there was an extra 24 hours added because it moved the goal posts, and the others are saying its great they moved the goal posts because my disposable eesources put me in a good spot. Its beyond frustrating and there is just no point in arguing with these people.
I'm not arguing with anyone. So, am I one of "these people"? {What a loaded semantic phrase that looks so benign, but has connotations that are anything but.}
I did Tuesday what I usually do Monday in a Skirmish. The only change for me was the day I did it. Would I have "risen" the exact same amount if I did it Monday instead? No idea. Because the drops would have been different. Because the RNG would have been RNGing at a different time. And it is quasi-randomized. I might have finished a little lower or a little higher. No way to say.
The simple fact is everyone's experience is going to be different at different times and on different accounts. Just because the RNG is quasi-random.
Im not trying to start anything, im giving up on the arguments because its stupid.
I had an interesting experience with this event and the extension. I have been stockpiling dilithium for a while to go hard at recap packs to fuel my IKS Bortas so my plan for all 4 events of the mega was to just clear thresholds for the Honor and then count on the recap packs to get me the cards I missed.
So by the time the event glitch happened I was sitting around 4,100th place and had barely cleared thresholds. Then the glitch happened and I was working with people in my fleet to help them coordinate around the outage to make sure they could hit their goals. All told, I think I spent several hours that night helping folks.
Then I made the mistake of coming here. There were a handful of players throwing tantrums, hijacking threads, being a nuisance, aggressively coming after other players for not agreeing with their perspective, and just generally speaking with an arrogant, entitled tone and I will confess, it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. And it woke up the skirmish monster I had worked hard to suppress for 3 days.
I spent about 6 hours during that extended 24 hour period and charged down the top 750. I finished with 2.1 million VP, which was good for 510th place. Not sure whose place I took but I REALLY hope it was one of the complainers, and in closing I will just add that I managed that on only 6 hours of work, so a lot of the people upset that their weekend of hard work was being undone did not work NEARLY as hard as they claimed.
I also know for a fact that I was not alone, I am just the second person (so far) who is publicly saying it (respect to @AviTrek ).
I think frustration is warranted when a set of expectations that has been established on a weekly basis for more than five years is suddenly upended as a seemingly knee-jerk reaction to an outage of only a few hours...
...I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
Frustration, 100% I agree with you. I'm not sure how closely you were monitoring the forum that day but there were many, many threads being started by folks venting their frustration both here on The Bridge and in the Engineering Room and obviously that is great. It is important for people to have an outlet.
But in my mind (and that of many others whom I was communicating with at the time via PMs and discord) at some point the line was emphatically crossed by a small percentage of the aggrieved when they started taking over every thread, shouting down other people, and a few times they were even making personal comments (that have since been removed) toward other people. Our friend @DScottHewitt was on the receiving end of several of them, but was not alone.
At some point inside me enough was enough, and the rest you know.
I had an interesting experience with this event and the extension. I have been stockpiling dilithium for a while to go hard at recap packs to fuel my IKS Bortas so my plan for all 4 events of the mega was to just clear thresholds for the Honor and then count on the recap packs to get me the cards I missed.
So by the time the event glitch happened I was sitting around 4,100th place and had barely cleared thresholds. Then the glitch happened and I was working with people in my fleet to help them coordinate around the outage to make sure they could hit their goals. All told, I think I spent several hours that night helping folks.
Then I made the mistake of coming here. There were a handful of players throwing tantrums, hijacking threads, being a nuisance, aggressively coming after other players for not agreeing with their perspective, and just generally speaking with an arrogant, entitled tone and I will confess, it REALLY rubbed me the wrong way. And it woke up the skirmish monster I had worked hard to suppress for 3 days.
I spent about 6 hours during that extended 24 hour period and charged down the top 750. I finished with 2.1 million VP, which was good for 510th place. Not sure whose place I took but I REALLY hope it was one of the complainers, and in closing I will just add that I managed that on only 6 hours of work, so a lot of the people upset that their weekend of hard work was being undone did not work NEARLY as hard as they claimed.
I also know for a fact that I was not alone, I am just the second person (so far) who is publicly saying it (respect to @AviTrek ).
I think frustration is warranted when a set of expectations that has been established on a weekly basis for more than five years is suddenly upended as a seemingly knee-jerk reaction to an outage of only a few hours...
...I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
Frustration, 100% I agree with you. I'm not sure how closely you were monitoring the forum that day but there were many, many threads being started by folks venting their frustration both here on The Bridge and in the Engineering Room and obviously that is great. It is important for people to have an outlet.
But in my mind (and that of many others whom I was communicating with at the time via PMs and discord) at some point the line was emphatically crossed by a small percentage of the aggrieved when they started taking over every thread, shouting down other people, and a few times they were even making personal comments (that have since been removed) toward other people. Our friend @DScottHewitt was on the receiving end of several of them, but was not alone.
At some point inside me enough was enough, and the rest you know.
I sure picked a heck of a day to try and come back, I will say.
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
The underlying problem is that we have no way of anticipating how issues will be resolved. There are three ways WRG can compensate for an event disruption:
Give players in-game resources to catch up (chronitons, intel, boosts/kits, tickets)
Extend rewards (adding solo thresholds or increasing the quantities of rank rewards)
Extend the duration of the event
For the entire time the event was unplayable, we had no way of even guessing what might be done about it. We could all be given a free Lt. Commander Spock. We could all be given 100 chronitons and a message thanking us for our patience. Anything in between. We had no idea an entire one-day extension was on the table. It wasn't unprecedented but it certainly wasn't a favorable precedent. It would be of considerable help going forward if we just knew what the formula was that WRG followed to decide which of these was appropriate. This event went down for more than four of its final nineteen hours, for instance. That warranted all three this time. Okay, fine. What about next time?
Okay, now I am totally confused on the rank thing as it relates to Spock and other Lieutenant Commanders.
I just started a re-watch of Seaquest DSV {which I had not seen since it was on TV} and they continuously refer to the Lieutenant Commander in charge of the Engineering Department as "Lieutenant".
I seriously have never heard an actual real-life Lieutenant Commander referred to as "Lieutenant".
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
Considering Spock ID'd himself to the computer as "Lieutenant Spock" to
reaccess Enterprise command codes
, I still say he's just a lieutenant and that the costume department screwed up. They forgot ensigns get no braid and displaced the junior ranks up one to accommodate cadets and got caught in the middle.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
Considering Spock ID'd himself to the computer as "Lieutenant Spock" to
reaccess Enterprise command codes
, I still say he's just a lieutenant and that the costume department screwed up. They forgot ensigns get no braid and displaced the junior ranks up one to accommodate cadets and got caught in the middle.
It's best not to focus much on things like rank and protocol in the Kurtzman era. Going back to the '09 reboot, it's been clear these things are unimportant. That's how you get a cadet going straight to captain (Kirk), an ensign serving as first officer (Tilly), and an admiral field promoting a civilian to captain of a Federation starship (Seven of Nine). Who's a lieutenant, a lieutenant commander, or a commander are small potatoes.
Considering Spock ID'd himself to the computer as "Lieutenant Spock" to
reaccess Enterprise command codes
, I still say he's just a lieutenant and that the costume department screwed up. They forgot ensigns get no braid and displaced the junior ranks up one to accommodate cadets and got caught in the middle.
It's best not to focus much on things like rank and protocol in the Kurtzman era. Going back to the '09 reboot, it's been clear these things are unimportant. That's how you get a cadet going straight to captain (Kirk), an ensign serving as first officer (Tilly), and an admiral field promoting a civilian to captain of a Federation starship (Seven of Nine). Who's a lieutenant, a lieutenant commander, or a commander are small potatoes.
Midshipman {Acting Lieutenant while at sea} William Sitgreaves Cox was tried by a Court Martial for abandoning his post as CAPTAIN of the USS Chesapeake in combat. The Captain got wounded in the battle and Cox carried him to sickbay. The rest of the command staff between Cox and the Captain were incapacitated or dead. Cox WAS Captain. it is entirely possible that the scene with Kirk suddenly becoming Captain in Star Trek 11 was in part inspired by that actual Naval incident.
It's a weird little piece of history. Robert Heinlein actually addressed the story in "Starship Troopers" when Johnny was at the Academy.
Considering Spock ID'd himself to the computer as "Lieutenant Spock" to
reaccess Enterprise command codes
, I still say he's just a lieutenant and that the costume department screwed up. They forgot ensigns get no braid and displaced the junior ranks up one to accommodate cadets and got caught in the middle.
It's best not to focus much on things like rank and protocol in the Kurtzman era. Going back to the '09 reboot, it's been clear these things are unimportant. That's how you get a cadet going straight to captain (Kirk), an ensign serving as first officer (Tilly), and an admiral field promoting a civilian to captain of a Federation starship (Seven of Nine). Who's a lieutenant, a lieutenant commander, or a commander are small potatoes.
Midshipman {Acting Lieutenant while at sea} William Sitgreaves Cox was tried by a Court Martial for abandoning his post as CAPTAIN of the USS Chesapeake in combat. The Captain got wounded in the battle and Cox carried him to sickbay. The rest of the command staff between Cox and the Captain were incapacitated or dead. Cox WAS Captain. it is entirely possible that the scene with Kirk suddenly becoming Captain in Star Trek 11 was in part inspired by that actual Naval incident.
It's a weird little piece of history. Robert Heinlein actually addressed the story in "Starship Troopers" when Johnny was at the Academy.
There is nothing in the rest of Kurtzman's work that suggests to me he'd have had the vaguest interest in that anecdote or incorporated it into that film. (I don't have a feel for Orci.) Even if that was the basis for rationalizing Cadet Kirk taking command of the Enterprise during the mission, it's still absurd that once the mission was over, he went straight from graduation to captaincy. And there are still all the other instances of this era of Star Trek shirking the rank and protocol of what came before.
Well, Martok went from a civilian laborer cleaning the mess to an officer with a field commission. He said as much. That's how he got around Kor rejecting him as an officer for being a commoner.
Officers serving in a post far beyond their rank using a brevet rank, until they reach it through regulations. (Then, they get to claim seniority dated to their brevet rank!) Basically, they get the acting rank without the formal rank and fake it until they make it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_(military)
It makes researching military careers in certain time periods and armies the most frustrating thing EVER. I've got a guy I'm researching now that was simultaneously a Second Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and a Captain with the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs and on the rolls of BOTH at both ranks! Tracking his early career is like nailing Jello to a tree.
First Officer is mostly a command function. A captain can have anyone he wants as his liaison with the crew and as his surrogate in his absence. Saru picked Tilly at the time and Burnham kept her. Rank hath its privileges.
Again, a senior officer with enough pull can get away with a lot. Seven had been offered a spot at the Academy and had experience with Starfleet and the Borg. She would be a great mission commander as Acting Captain there. She probably had to pass some tests and deal with paperwork to keep the commission as an officer and moved to a largely symbolic junior officer post from there. We shall see.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
Well, Martok went from a civilian laborer cleaning the mess to an officer with a field commission. He said as much. That's how he got around Kor rejecting him as an officer for being a commoner.
Officers serving in a post far beyond their rank using a brevet rank, until they reach it through regulations. (Then, they get to claim seniority dated to their brevet rank!) Basically, they get the acting rank without the formal rank and fake it until they make it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_(military)
It makes researching military careers in certain time periods and armies the most frustrating thing EVER. I've got a guy I'm researching now that was simultaneously a Second Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and a Captain with the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs and on the rolls of BOTH at both ranks! Tracking his early career is like nailing Jello to a tree.
First Officer is mostly a command function. A captain can have anyone he wants as his liaison with the crew and as his surrogate in his absence. Saru picked Tilly at the time and Burnham kept her. Rank hath its privileges.
Again, a senior officer with enough pull can get away with a lot. Seven had been offered a spot at the Academy and had experience with Starfleet and the Borg. She would be a great mission commander as Acting Captain there. She probably had to pass some tests and deal with paperwork to keep the commission as an officer and moved to a largely symbolic junior officer post from there. We shall see.
The protocols for the Klingons are a whole 'nother critter anyway, though. I mean, they allow for a captain to be replaced by someone winning a knife fight. I've no doubt there are enough flukes in real life military careers to build a regiment and it's fair to defend fiction following those precedents. My criticism is that within the existing context of the fictitious Starfleet as it had been portrayed prior to the CBS era, none of these things have precedence and there have been several in a short amount of time. This is just one of my personal bugaboos, though, and I accept it probably irks me more than it ought to.
@Travis S McClain As a former Navy man, the rank/insignia tribbles bother me as well, although I am trying to "let it go", as the popular song insists we do. I've started looking at the ranks more in the way of a Merchant Marine, instead of US (or HM) Navy. While they both share the same rank structure, the restrictions for the Merchant Marine are less, so it isn't that odd to see a measure of laxity in the command structure (and, as a result, in the ranking). Starfleet, with its emphasis on exploration and scientific research, versus military command-and-control, doesn't adhere as rigidly to the rank delineations like the Navy does (when I was a lowly Petty Officer, I would never have thought to conduct a casual conversation with my Captain, or even the First Officer).
But there is a legitimate case to be made that there has been, and continues to be, confusion as to what insignia means what, and how each rank are described and/or referred to. This would qualify as a significant Continuity issue, to use an industry term.
Well, Martok went from a civilian laborer cleaning the mess to an officer with a field commission. He said as much. That's how he got around Kor rejecting him as an officer for being a commoner.
Officers serving in a post far beyond their rank using a brevet rank, until they reach it through regulations. (Then, they get to claim seniority dated to their brevet rank!) Basically, they get the acting rank without the formal rank and fake it until they make it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_(military)
It makes researching military careers in certain time periods and armies the most frustrating thing EVER. I've got a guy I'm researching now that was simultaneously a Second Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and a Captain with the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs and on the rolls of BOTH at both ranks! Tracking his early career is like nailing Jello to a tree.
First Officer is mostly a command function. A captain can have anyone he wants as his liaison with the crew and as his surrogate in his absence. Saru picked Tilly at the time and Burnham kept her. Rank hath its privileges.
Again, a senior officer with enough pull can get away with a lot. Seven had been offered a spot at the Academy and had experience with Starfleet and the Borg. She would be a great mission commander as Acting Captain there. She probably had to pass some tests and deal with paperwork to keep the commission as an officer and moved to a largely symbolic junior officer post from there. We shall see.
The protocols for the Klingons are a whole 'nother critter anyway, though. I mean, they allow for a captain to be replaced by someone winning a knife fight. I've no doubt there are enough flukes in real life military careers to build a regiment and it's fair to defend fiction following those precedents. My criticism is that within the existing context of the fictitious Starfleet as it had been portrayed prior to the CBS era, none of these things have precedence and there have been several in a short amount of time. This is just one of my personal bugaboos, though, and I accept it probably irks me more than it ought to.
Plenty of precedents in previous ST series. Wesley being a brevet ensign and bridge officer. Chakotay and Torres going from civilians to command ranks on Voyager. Kira joining Starfleet as a brevet commander for that mission to Cardassia. T'Pol joining Starfleet as a full commander when she quit the high command. Trek has always played fast and loose with ranks, which makes a certain sense as Starfleet is not a military organisation.
None of which explains Spock's rank and insignia, admittedly.
Well, Martok went from a civilian laborer cleaning the mess to an officer with a field commission. He said as much. That's how he got around Kor rejecting him as an officer for being a commoner.
Officers serving in a post far beyond their rank using a brevet rank, until they reach it through regulations. (Then, they get to claim seniority dated to their brevet rank!) Basically, they get the acting rank without the formal rank and fake it until they make it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_(military)
It makes researching military careers in certain time periods and armies the most frustrating thing EVER. I've got a guy I'm researching now that was simultaneously a Second Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and a Captain with the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs and on the rolls of BOTH at both ranks! Tracking his early career is like nailing Jello to a tree.
First Officer is mostly a command function. A captain can have anyone he wants as his liaison with the crew and as his surrogate in his absence. Saru picked Tilly at the time and Burnham kept her. Rank hath its privileges.
Again, a senior officer with enough pull can get away with a lot. Seven had been offered a spot at the Academy and had experience with Starfleet and the Borg. She would be a great mission commander as Acting Captain there. She probably had to pass some tests and deal with paperwork to keep the commission as an officer and moved to a largely symbolic junior officer post from there. We shall see.
The protocols for the Klingons are a whole 'nother critter anyway, though. I mean, they allow for a captain to be replaced by someone winning a knife fight. I've no doubt there are enough flukes in real life military careers to build a regiment and it's fair to defend fiction following those precedents. My criticism is that within the existing context of the fictitious Starfleet as it had been portrayed prior to the CBS era, none of these things have precedence and there have been several in a short amount of time. This is just one of my personal bugaboos, though, and I accept it probably irks me more than it ought to.
Plenty of precedents in previous ST series. Wesley being a brevet ensign and bridge officer. Chakotay and Torres going from civilians to command ranks on Voyager. Kira joining Starfleet as a brevet commander for that mission to Cardassia. T'Pol joining Starfleet as a full commander when she quit the high command. Trek has always played fast and loose with ranks, which makes a certain sense as Starfleet is not a military organisation.
None of which explains Spock's rank and insignia, admittedly.
Those are solid counterarguments, though I'd chalk up Chakotay & Torres and Kira to extenuating circumstances. I can't think of any dispute with Wesley and T'Pol.
Well, Martok went from a civilian laborer cleaning the mess to an officer with a field commission. He said as much. That's how he got around Kor rejecting him as an officer for being a commoner.
Officers serving in a post far beyond their rank using a brevet rank, until they reach it through regulations. (Then, they get to claim seniority dated to their brevet rank!) Basically, they get the acting rank without the formal rank and fake it until they make it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_(military)
It makes researching military careers in certain time periods and armies the most frustrating thing EVER. I've got a guy I'm researching now that was simultaneously a Second Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and a Captain with the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs and on the rolls of BOTH at both ranks! Tracking his early career is like nailing Jello to a tree.
First Officer is mostly a command function. A captain can have anyone he wants as his liaison with the crew and as his surrogate in his absence. Saru picked Tilly at the time and Burnham kept her. Rank hath its privileges.
Again, a senior officer with enough pull can get away with a lot. Seven had been offered a spot at the Academy and had experience with Starfleet and the Borg. She would be a great mission commander as Acting Captain there. She probably had to pass some tests and deal with paperwork to keep the commission as an officer and moved to a largely symbolic junior officer post from there. We shall see.
The protocols for the Klingons are a whole 'nother critter anyway, though. I mean, they allow for a captain to be replaced by someone winning a knife fight. I've no doubt there are enough flukes in real life military careers to build a regiment and it's fair to defend fiction following those precedents. My criticism is that within the existing context of the fictitious Starfleet as it had been portrayed prior to the CBS era, none of these things have precedence and there have been several in a short amount of time. This is just one of my personal bugaboos, though, and I accept it probably irks me more than it ought to.
Plenty of precedents in previous ST series. Wesley being a brevet ensign and bridge officer. Chakotay and Torres going from civilians to command ranks on Voyager. Kira joining Starfleet as a brevet commander for that mission to Cardassia. T'Pol joining Starfleet as a full commander when she quit the high command. Trek has always played fast and loose with ranks, which makes a certain sense as Starfleet is not a military organisation.
None of which explains Spock's rank and insignia, admittedly.
It is good to remember that Gene himself insisted that Starfleet was NOT "military". Totally ignoring the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
What if I told you not every single nit needs to be picked literally to death?
The Seven Captain thing was because she had experience with the Borg. Just like Kira being made Commander when she was working with the Cardassians. Kirk becoming Captain was fate. He was always fated to be Captain in all universes, just in some the path was different. Remember too that many ships had been destroyed by the Romulan mining ship and they had just saved Earth.
Comments
I have never been a fan of the four-day event schedule anyway, and I wish that the studio was open to trying three days again as an experiment. I suppose they do not have quantifiable metrics for players' enjoyment, though, as they do for engagement. 🖖
EDIT: It took me less than 30 minutes to use those chrons for (galaxy) farming, then to use up the extra Intel.
I think frustration is warranted when a set of expectations that has been established on a weekly basis for more than five years is suddenly upended as a seemingly knee-jerk reaction to an outage of only a few hours.
I wound up finishing in the tier I targeted, but it took significantly more resources and time, and required me to play a stupid mobile game while I was supposed to be working. I had a window of time over the weekend when I had planned to get the bulk of my skirmishing done, when I'd have some time to myself. It just so happened that the outage fell during my personal window of time, which really threw a wrench in my plans.
The lack of communication and the uncertainty surrounding the changes that were going to be implemented to the reward structure made the problem that much worse, since I didn't know how much more I should or shouldn't play since I had a specific rank and set of rewards that I was purposefully targeting. As such, I didn't play on the Sunday night like I could have.
I believe extending the event by 24-hours was a terrible decision that could potentially set an even worse precedent. Expanding/extending the tiers was the best solution, but the announcement with the details of that plan should have been shared with players much more quickly. Knowing that a significant outage could potentially impact players' ability to play within the event timeline, they should have errored on the side of being extra generous with the tier expansion (I had suggested shifting ranks by a minimum or 2 tiers, as opposed to just 1 like they wound up doing).
I also fail to understand how your emotional response to other players' emotional response to yet another multi-layered failing on the part of WRG is somehow more acceptable or justified. People were upset and rightfully so. This forum is the most appropriate place to voice their displeasure, especially when WRG's lack of communication or consideration only compounded yet another in what is becoming a long line of 'glitches'.
I think this is the stale mate that i see from forum users. The people who had the in game resources and real life time available really benefitted from the extra 24hours. And the folks who didnt, suffered.
Thats whats so jaw dropping about it when theres a few people in here talking about how they used the extra 24 hours to improve their rank, which is exactly the source of frustration for people who dont have resources. Some of us are saying its not fair that there was an extra 24 hours added because it moved the goal posts, and the others are saying its great they moved the goal posts because my disposable eesources put me in a good spot. Its beyond frustrating and there is just no point in arguing with these people.
I'm not arguing with anyone. So, am I one of "these people"? {What a loaded semantic phrase that looks so benign, but has connotations that are anything but.}
I did Tuesday what I usually do Monday in a Skirmish. The only change for me was the day I did it. Would I have "risen" the exact same amount if I did it Monday instead? No idea. Because the drops would have been different. Because the RNG would have been RNGing at a different time. And it is quasi-randomized. I might have finished a little lower or a little higher. No way to say.
The simple fact is everyone's experience is going to be different at different times and on different accounts. Just because the RNG is quasi-random.
Im not trying to start anything, im giving up on the arguments because its stupid.
Frustration, 100% I agree with you. I'm not sure how closely you were monitoring the forum that day but there were many, many threads being started by folks venting their frustration both here on The Bridge and in the Engineering Room and obviously that is great. It is important for people to have an outlet.
But in my mind (and that of many others whom I was communicating with at the time via PMs and discord) at some point the line was emphatically crossed by a small percentage of the aggrieved when they started taking over every thread, shouting down other people, and a few times they were even making personal comments (that have since been removed) toward other people. Our friend @DScottHewitt was on the receiving end of several of them, but was not alone.
At some point inside me enough was enough, and the rest you know.
I sure picked a heck of a day to try and come back, I will say.
For the entire time the event was unplayable, we had no way of even guessing what might be done about it. We could all be given a free Lt. Commander Spock. We could all be given 100 chronitons and a message thanking us for our patience. Anything in between. We had no idea an entire one-day extension was on the table. It wasn't unprecedented but it certainly wasn't a favorable precedent. It would be of considerable help going forward if we just knew what the formula was that WRG followed to decide which of these was appropriate. This event went down for more than four of its final nineteen hours, for instance. That warranted all three this time. Okay, fine. What about next time?
I just started a re-watch of Seaquest DSV {which I had not seen since it was on TV} and they continuously refer to the Lieutenant Commander in charge of the Engineering Department as "Lieutenant".
I seriously have never heard an actual real-life Lieutenant Commander referred to as "Lieutenant".
It's best not to focus much on things like rank and protocol in the Kurtzman era. Going back to the '09 reboot, it's been clear these things are unimportant. That's how you get a cadet going straight to captain (Kirk), an ensign serving as first officer (Tilly), and an admiral field promoting a civilian to captain of a Federation starship (Seven of Nine). Who's a lieutenant, a lieutenant commander, or a commander are small potatoes.
Midshipman {Acting Lieutenant while at sea} William Sitgreaves Cox was tried by a Court Martial for abandoning his post as CAPTAIN of the USS Chesapeake in combat. The Captain got wounded in the battle and Cox carried him to sickbay. The rest of the command staff between Cox and the Captain were incapacitated or dead. Cox WAS Captain. it is entirely possible that the scene with Kirk suddenly becoming Captain in Star Trek 11 was in part inspired by that actual Naval incident.
It's a weird little piece of history. Robert Heinlein actually addressed the story in "Starship Troopers" when Johnny was at the Academy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sitgreaves_Cox
There is nothing in the rest of Kurtzman's work that suggests to me he'd have had the vaguest interest in that anecdote or incorporated it into that film. (I don't have a feel for Orci.) Even if that was the basis for rationalizing Cadet Kirk taking command of the Enterprise during the mission, it's still absurd that once the mission was over, he went straight from graduation to captaincy. And there are still all the other instances of this era of Star Trek shirking the rank and protocol of what came before.
Officers serving in a post far beyond their rank using a brevet rank, until they reach it through regulations. (Then, they get to claim seniority dated to their brevet rank!) Basically, they get the acting rank without the formal rank and fake it until they make it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_(military)
It makes researching military careers in certain time periods and armies the most frustrating thing EVER. I've got a guy I'm researching now that was simultaneously a Second Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and a Captain with the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs and on the rolls of BOTH at both ranks! Tracking his early career is like nailing Jello to a tree.
First Officer is mostly a command function. A captain can have anyone he wants as his liaison with the crew and as his surrogate in his absence. Saru picked Tilly at the time and Burnham kept her. Rank hath its privileges.
Again, a senior officer with enough pull can get away with a lot. Seven had been offered a spot at the Academy and had experience with Starfleet and the Borg. She would be a great mission commander as Acting Captain there. She probably had to pass some tests and deal with paperwork to keep the commission as an officer and moved to a largely symbolic junior officer post from there. We shall see.
The protocols for the Klingons are a whole 'nother critter anyway, though. I mean, they allow for a captain to be replaced by someone winning a knife fight. I've no doubt there are enough flukes in real life military careers to build a regiment and it's fair to defend fiction following those precedents. My criticism is that within the existing context of the fictitious Starfleet as it had been portrayed prior to the CBS era, none of these things have precedence and there have been several in a short amount of time. This is just one of my personal bugaboos, though, and I accept it probably irks me more than it ought to.
But there is a legitimate case to be made that there has been, and continues to be, confusion as to what insignia means what, and how each rank are described and/or referred to. This would qualify as a significant Continuity issue, to use an industry term.
Plenty of precedents in previous ST series. Wesley being a brevet ensign and bridge officer. Chakotay and Torres going from civilians to command ranks on Voyager. Kira joining Starfleet as a brevet commander for that mission to Cardassia. T'Pol joining Starfleet as a full commander when she quit the high command. Trek has always played fast and loose with ranks, which makes a certain sense as Starfleet is not a military organisation.
None of which explains Spock's rank and insignia, admittedly.
Those are solid counterarguments, though I'd chalk up Chakotay & Torres and Kira to extenuating circumstances. I can't think of any dispute with Wesley and T'Pol.
It is good to remember that Gene himself insisted that Starfleet was NOT "military". Totally ignoring the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.